Shock Value

Director Uwe Boll has fashioned himself into a half-baked Internet celebrity by sheer force of will, assuming with odd pride the mantle of "most hated" and "worst filmmaker ever." Having made his name with a series of dubious video-game adaptations such as "BloodRayne" and "Alone in the Dark," Boll has fashioned a persona so zestily without taste that the element of Andy Kaufman put-on shines through a little too clearly. This makes "Postal," another gaming adaptation and erstwhile commentary on the state of post-9/11 America, all the more suspect.

Jay-Z's Roc Nation will now manage multi-platinum hitmaker Timbaland, the company announced on its website Wednesday.  “We would like to welcome Timbaland to the Roc Nation family!,” reads the caption under a photo of the innovative producer-rapper in the studio with Jay-Z. Jay-Z, who founded the entertainment company in 2008, also posted the shot on his Life + Times blog and quoted one of their many collaborations, "Hola Hovito. " "And I won't surrender It With Beats," the title of the post reads.

A mother's agony over the death of her 18-year-old son: Surely a picture like this does not deserve to be printed on the front page of The Times ("Gunman Kills 2, Injures 4 in Garden Grove," Aug. 31). I am appalled to see this newspaper choosing sensationalism over common decency, shock value over newsworthiness. This photograph adds nothing to the story that it accompanies. Moreover, it is completely distasteful and inappropriate. Perhaps when deciding what photos to pair with your stories, you should consider how you might feel if you were that grieving mother.

Chris Brown "Graffiti" Jive 1/2 It's unlikely that there's anything Chris Brown could have said on his new album -- his first since pleading guilty to assaulting his ex-girlfriend Rihanna -- to convince listeners that he's still the sweetheart that early hits such as "With You" and "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)" presented him as. But if Brown's goal with "Graffiti" was to begin the rehabilitation of his damaged image, you have to wonder how he and his handlers convinced themselves that including the song "Famous Girl," in which Brown insists that his cheating on a pop-star girlfriend came after her own infidelity, was a good idea.

It's not the sort of play you would expect at a church-affiliated school like Cal Lutheran University. Ads for it warn: "Contains graphic depictions of sexuality and violence and is recommended for mature audiences only." When "Vinegar Tom" opens today on the small, quiet Thousand Oaks campus, viewers may be shocked. After all, the props for the set include a dildo, G-string, bull whip and handcuffs. During the production, images--some of them nude--will flash on television screens.

Jay-Z's Roc Nation will now manage multi-platinum hitmaker Timbaland, the company announced on its website Wednesday.  “We would like to welcome Timbaland to the Roc Nation family!,” reads the caption under a photo of the innovative producer-rapper in the studio with Jay-Z. Jay-Z, who founded the entertainment company in 2008, also posted the shot on his Life + Times blog and quoted one of their many collaborations, "Hola Hovito. " "And I won't surrender It With Beats," the title of the post reads.

Regarding sexual bias and exploitation, Turan's observation that only women are singled out for this type of onscreen treatment is crucial. The old '60s refrain that "if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem" applies here. Why aren't women conscious of this phenomenon? Why do they passively attend such films with their significant others--without protest? As long as women ignore the disempowering impact of contributing to the box-office gross of these films, Hollywood will continue to serve up still more appalling fare--for each must aim for greater shock value than the last.

This letter was prompted after reading the "In the Know" column (June 30) and the article "Can They Save Summer?" It talked about the concerns studios are having with a declining box office, a big smash opening and then lagging attendance. Wise up, you jerks. Give us a few films that depict real people behaving and speaking realistically. I am an old man, over 70 years here in Southern California. We like movies; we are complaining about the gratuitous use of profanity. Why do they (producers, writers, directors)

I found it disturbing that 20th Century Fox has made "Less Than Zero" a "much more moralistic story." To change such a vehicle to reflect the world as it should be is an unfortunate mistake. The shock value in "Less Than Zero" is derived from the realization that its scenes have a chilling ring of truth. Gender confusion, promiscuity and hustling are as much realities in Los Angeles today as is rampant drug use. Pretended ignorance will not serve us in facing these issues. In an interview in the Los Angeles Times Magazine some months ago, Bret Easton Ellis expressed his fears that Hollywood would weaken and trivialize his novel.

Oh, please! To refer to Robert Gober's assembly as "art" serves only to insult both those with talent and those with taste ("Articles of Faith for This World," Sept. 9). Gober's Virgin is nothing more than a timeworn device used by no-talent hacks who attempt to obscure the worthlessness of their effort with enough shock value that they hope will stifle criticism of their otherwise uninspired piece. What next, Gober, a crucifix in a jar of urine? Oh, pardon me . . . that's been done already, hasn't it?

There's an old saying attributed to Everett Dirksen, the Illinois senator who dotted his speeches with colorful rants against government borrowing: A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money. Not these days, you're not. The thicket of figures hurled at Americans since Wall Street began to melt down last month boggles the mind and crashes the calculator. We are utterly numb from numbers. Bailout of the U.S. financial system: $700 billion.

Director Uwe Boll has fashioned himself into a half-baked Internet celebrity by sheer force of will, assuming with odd pride the mantle of "most hated" and "worst filmmaker ever." Having made his name with a series of dubious video-game adaptations such as "BloodRayne" and "Alone in the Dark," Boll has fashioned a persona so zestily without taste that the element of Andy Kaufman put-on shines through a little too clearly. This makes "Postal," another gaming adaptation and erstwhile commentary on the state of post-9/11 America, all the more suspect.

RE "How to Slice and Dice a Serial Killer" [Feb. 17]: How many people who produce and watch the sadistic series "Dexter" are the same people protesting torture at Guantanamo Bay or Abu Ghraib? It is not OK to torture.

IN a nation shaken by war, divided by religious strife and paralyzed by political feuds, Lebanese actor-director Nadine Labaki found the perfect subject for her first film: a hair salon filled with chatty women obsessed with sex and looks. "Caramel," the 33-year-old Labaki's bittersweet film of love, heartache and friendship, has quickly become one of the most successful Lebanese films ever, scooping up awards, breaking sales records and earning kudos on the international film circuit.

In 1964, "Dutchman" opened off-Broadway, sending a seismic wave across the American landscape that reverberates to this day. Its author, LeRoi Jones, changed his name to Amiri Baraka after Malcolm X's assassination in 1965, while "Dutchman" became perhaps the most revolutionary play ever to win an Obie Award.

Through four seasons, Fox's thriller "24" has propelled fans through some fearlessly over-the-top plot twists. One season, for example, hinged on how intelligence operative Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) narrowly helped foil a nuclear bombing that would have wiped out Los Angeles.

I take offense with the theory proposed by Patrick Goldstein that the movie-going audience wants to be fed pablum and that's why we are afraid and repulsed by films such as "Blue Velvet" (Hollywood Signs: "No One Is Up for a Downer," Dec. 28). "Blue Velvet," one of the most boring and banal films of this, or any year, wins my Emperor's New Clothes Award for 1986. We have become such a sophisticated and jaded audience that sometimes shock value alone becomes a selling point.

One does not invest in the glorious gizmo known as TiVo to fast forward through games in order to get to the commercials; it's supposed to work the other way around. Yet, the chance to dissect a slew of 30-second, $2.4-million advertising spots during the Super Bowl comes around, well, only once a year, and so for one day having to make game-time bathroom break adjustments seemed a small price to pay.

"Anybody for Scrabble?" says a voice from the packed porch of Barbara's, a well-hidden bar and restaurant in downtown's sprawling artists' colony, the Brewery. Board games? I'd driven through this industrial maze to practice my spelling? Within this uber-urban complex of artists' lofts and studios built from a former brewery, you'd figure that the resident painters, sculptors and designers would engage in much more creative activities. I'm here to tell you that they do.